Fruity Candy Bark

With Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas fast approaching, most people are probably taking a break from consuming indulgent and decadent foods. I’m not most people.

Basically, I united my favorite fruity candies, with a little help from my trusty sidekick, white chocolate, into one saccharin-licious superpower of a dessert (so dubbed Diabetes Bark by my taste testers).

Fruity Candy Bark

For the complete sugar-filled recipe, visit Foodbeast.

Chocolate Covered Soft Pretzels

Oh my gosh, I forgot how much I HEART soft pretzels. My Grandpa Walter and I used to holler at them all the time for an after-school snack. (He also had a drawer FULL of fun-sized Snickers and there was always Breyer's Strawberry ice cream in the freezer and 7-Up in the fridge). Good times.

To ready the pretzels for coating, you just follow the directions on the box. I put them in the oven because I had the time, but I'm sure they would be just as good in the microwave. Don't forget the salt!!!

Chocolate Covered Soft Pretzels

Ingredients

• 6 soft pretzels, baked and cooled
• chocolate baking bark

Directions

1. Chop up or rip up the salted soft pretzels.
2. Melt the bark and coat your pretzel bits. 
3. Stick in the fridge to set. 

You can see from the picture that I tried out both the white and regular chocolate bark. Well dudes, don't waste your time with the white chocolate. I don't know about everybody else, but I thought the milk chocolate was the clear winner. Tasted like a chocolate-covered, salty Krispy Kreme donut. Yum!

Bacon Cheddar Apple Crisp

So you probably already have a good idea of what you are cooking for Thanksgiving. I’m going to assume your menu looks a little something like this: bacon-wrapped turkey, bacon mashed potatoes, bacon green bean casserole, bacon pumpkin pie.

So dinner is covered. But what about breakfast? I suggest that you start Thanksgiving morning off with a healthy serving of bacon cheddar apple crisp. I know what you’re thinking, “Bacon? For breakfast? Get outta town!“  But I hear people do it all the time, and the time for you is now (or, more accurately, Thursday morning).

Bacon Cheddar Apple Crisp

To get the recipe for a breakfast that will cause you to count your blessings, visit Foodbeast.

Chocolate Covered Kickin' Cheddar Ritz Bits

The world should be covered in chocolate and hot sauce. Separately or together, either way works for me. Although these bits of chocolate-covered buttery goodness aren't dipped in Frank's (ooo, project!), they still give you that little extra kick in the mouth (hence the name) that I know you are craving.

The original plan for this recipe (and I use that term extremely loosely) was to go to the grocery and stare at the cheese and peanut butter Ritz Bits to see which one wanted to be covered in chocolate more. But when I saw these Kickin' Cheddar Ritz Bits, those other two were quickly forgotten.

 Chocolate Covered Kickin' Cheddar Ritz Bits

Ingredients

• 1 box Kickin' Cheddar Ritz Bits
• chocolate or white chocolate baking bark

Directions

1. Melt chocolate.
2. Coat bits.
3. Chill until set.

If you are looking for a more prominent chocolate flavor, go with the regular chocolate. If you want the cheese and spice to shine, stick with the white. If you are looking for something that is just plain good, both or either will do the job admirably.

Bacon Pumpkin Pie Truffles

It’s almost Thanksgiving, which means it’s time to decide how to most efficiently and taste-ily gain 5 pounds in one day. Well, I've got a solution for you: bite-sized balls of chocolate-coated, bacon-laden, pumpkin pie.

Basically, it’s a cake ball, but with pie, so I was hesitant to call them truffles. However, I was feeling a bit hoity-toity this morning, so why not?

Feel free to use your favorite pumpkin pie recipe to make these truffles, I just used the recipe on the back of a can of Libby's pumpkin.

Bacon Pumpkin Pie Truffles

For the full recipe, visit Foodbeast.

Nabisco Cookie White Chocolate Bark

Version 1 of this cookie bark was for chocolate lovers: milk choc. chips with Chips Ahoy!, Oreos and Nutter Butters. Version 2.0 is for those of us that enjoy vanilla.

I made this white chocolate bark for a beer tasting. I wanted to create a dessert that would still be strong enough to stand on its own but not so strong that it overwhelms the palate and affects the flavor of the beer. 

Nabisco Cookie White Chocolate Bark

Ingredients

• 12oz white chocolate chips
• 1 Teddy Graham GO PAK
• 1box (2.125oz) Barnum's Animal Crackers
• 1 to 1.5 cups mini Nilla wafers

Directions

1. Prep a baking sheet with wax paper.
2. Break up the Teddy Grahams, Animal Crackers and, mini Nilla wafers in to small pieces (but not crumbs) and combine in a bowl.
3. Melt the chips and spread the white chocolate out over the wax paper.
4. Sprinkle the cookies pieces over the white chocolate and press them down in to make sure they stick.
5. Set in the freezer until firm, then break into chunks. 

I preferred v. 2.0 of the bark. It's tasty and the flavors are there, but it is definitely not as intense at the chocolate version. And that means it's easy to eat more of it. I'll leave it up to you decide whether or not that's a good thing.

It's a Candy Bar...Made of Candy Bars

Halloween is over, and according to a number of sources, the question you should be asking yourself now is "What should I do with my leftover Halloween candy?" Or more accurately for me, "What should I do with the mass amounts of discounted Halloween candy I purchased on November 1?" The answer lies in this meta-candy bar.

The ingredients and directions for this layered bar are quite simple, yet they result in one ridiculously amazing dessert. It's just a layering of Kit Kats, Snickers, and Reese's Cups. Yes, three of your favorite candies melted together to form one giant mass of all of your childhood dreams coming true.

  Do you see the layers? Do you?

The Meta-Candy Bar

For the for all of the melty details, visit Foodbeast.

Nutty Bar Truffles

My mom used to pack Nutty Bars in my brother's lunch like every day. I had no interest in them back then. Now those days of PB being merely a sandwich spread are behind me, and my future is filled with peanut butter wishes and crispy wafer dreams.

I had taken a break from Little Debbie truffles to try my hand at a few other recipes, so I thought it was time for a reprise.

Side note: I could have sworn these things were called Nutty Buddy bars, but when I searched "Nutty Buddy" to snag the above link, Google threw out a bunch of web sites about jock straps. Yikes. 

(I apologize for the blurry image. Don't look at it too long; it might make you feel gross.)

Nutty Bar Truffles

Ingredients

• 8oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 BIG PACK of Nutty Bars
• chocolate baking bark

Directions

1. Pulverize 6 two-packs of Nutty Bars in a food processor.
2. Add in cream cheese and pulse until combined. 
3. Remove cream cheese mixture from food processor and pulverize an addition 3 two-packs of Nutty Bars. 
4. Fold the Nutty Bar crumbs into the cream cheese concoction.
5. Scoop into balls and chill while you are melting your baking bark.
6. Coat the truffles and chill to set.

Aaaaaaamazing! Stirring in the extra crumbs at the end was a great way to retain the crispy texture of the Nutty Bars in the truffles. Theses tasty treats are definitely getting me excited about getting back into the Little Debbie swing of things.